APC, PDP disagree on INEC budgeting billions for electoral cases

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s N3billion budget for prosecution of election cases in the courts has attracted different opinions from political parties.

INEC had projected it would expend N3, 087,195,425 to pursue the cases in various courts across the country. Reacting to the development, Debo Ologunagba, the national publicity secretary of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however described it as a wasteful expenditure.

“How can an institution that spent over N300bn for BVAS use another N3bn for litigations? The expectation was that there would be no crisis of credibility after the deployment of BVAS,” the PDP spokesperson said in a report published by Punch.

But on his part, Felix Morka, the national publicity secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said there was nothing strange about INEC spending the humongous sum for the purpose it claimed.

He said, “I don’t know anything about their finances or budget for the election petition litigation. But what I can say is that INEC is the electoral umpire, the agency charged with the duty to conduct elections for Nigeria. That duty extends to litigating or defending any lawsuit arising from that election.”